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04.02.14

Miss. Bans Abortion After 20 Weeks

Dan Anderson/Reuters

Looking to claim the prize for most socially conservative state, Mississippi’s legislature on Tuesday passed an abortion ban that starts after 20 weeks, without exceptions for rape or incest, as well as a “religious freedom” bill similar to the Arizona bill dubbed “turn away the gays.” The governor says he will immediately sign the abortion bill. Planned Parenthood claims that the way the bill is constructed, it counts the pregnancy as beginning with the woman’s last menstrual period, and is thus actually an 18-week ban. The bill does have exemptions in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or when the fetus has no chance of survival.